Tesla is opening its supercharger network of electric-vehicle chargers up to non-Tesla EVs.
What’s more, the news about this was scooped by the White House.
A White House memo says that the network will become available to those driving non-Tesla vehicles in “late 2022”.
The company has already opened up some of its chargers to other brands in Europe, as part of a pilot program.
It was unclear when, or if, Tesla would allow the same in the U.S., but a fact sheet circulated by the White House on June 28 said this: “Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers.”
Tesla didn’t comment on the report — of course, the company no longer has a PR team to field such requests — so we don’t know if the company knew the White House would “scoop” it. As we’ve documented, however, there is no love lost between Tesla boss Elon Musk and President Joe Biden.
American EV owners who drive something other than a Tesla might need to download a smartphone app to use the chargers. They’ll also need an adapter to make the charger cable connect correctly.
The Biden administration wants to spend $5 billion to grow the nation’s charging infrastructure from the current 41,000 chargers (Tesla and not) with 100K plugs to 500,000 chargers by 2030, and the White House says it will only spend federal money on chargers that can juice up the broadest possible range of EVs.
Should this turn out to be true, it’s undoubtedly good news for EV owners who drive something from another brand. It may even help speed EV adoption — imagine a scenario where a potential EV buyer can’t afford or doesn’t want a Tesla but sees only Tesla Superchargers in the area where he/she lives and works. Now, however, this person could buy, say, a Chevrolet Bolt or Volkswagen ID.4 and use the Tesla network to keep it charged.
[Image: JL IMAGES/Shutterstock.com]
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